


Past The Silhouettes

by mintjoonlep



Series: Look Series [2]
Category: GOT7
Genre: Angst, Biting, Blow Jobs, Clothed Sex, Dirty Talk, F/M, Fluff, Marking, Mutual Pining, Online Friendship, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Smut, Vaginal Fingering, stairwell sexy times
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:34:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22789561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintjoonlep/pseuds/mintjoonlep
Summary: You’d never been one for attending big parties with unfamiliar people, particularly not in the wake of a recent heartbreak and unfulfilled yearnings. One night stands weren’t something you’d ever indulged in either. But, after encountering a handsome stranger at a large gathering, one who seemed to feel just as lonely as you did, you hadn’t been able to help yourself from seeking the feel of his hands all over your body.It hadn’t been planned and it certainly hadn’t been something you’d have expected to extend past that one night, but there was something far too welcoming and familiar about him to ignore. Something about the way he made you feel seemed too good to be nothing more than a fluke bit of desire.
Relationships: Mark Tuan/You
Series: Look Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1508486
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	Past The Silhouettes

“If I ignore it, it’ll go away.”

You knew the moment you’d mumbled the words to yourself that they were wrong. Life had proven on numerous occasions that ignoring a problem tended to make it worse, leading to more trouble than would have been necessary had you dealt with the issue head-on in the first place. Rationalizing reasons to avoid the things you didn’t want to bother with had given you plenty of headaches in the past, but your current predicament seemed to be rife with migraine-inducing possibilities, leaving you to question if you may have finally stumbled upon an occasion where dodging unwanted situations might actually be the best course of action.

The cellphone on your desk vibrated, repeating the same unrelenting disruption you’d been fighting to dismiss for the past thirty minutes. You gave the device a cursory glance, waiting for it to go still and silent before you turned back to your computer screen, fingers getting back to work typing a reply. The phone came back to life before you could even finish your sentence and you groaned out your frustration, picking it up to face the demon otherwise known as your best friend.

As expected, a long scrawl of irritated text messages awaited you, each accentuated with plenty of exclamation points and a number of emojis meant to showcase how absolutely done Madison had become with your silence. By the time you reached the end of her recent messages, she’d switched to using all caps, and you knew you had to finally face the music, give her the answer your friend had been waiting on.

 **Mads:** GURL IF U DONT ANSWER ME IM COMING OVER 2 MAKE SURE UR NOT DEAD! !

 **YN:** I’m not dead. Just terrified. No need to shout, btw.

 **Mads:** ive been trying 2 get an answer from u for 1 hour! ill shout if i want 2!

 **Mads:** ur coming w me fri rite?

 **YN:** Never mind. I am actually dead, so I won’t be able to make it.

 **Mads:** nu-uh gurl! u promised! ur coming!

 **YN:** No take backsies?

 **Mads:** no take backsies!

Leaning your head back to rest against your computer chair, you lowered your phone with the tiniest of groans, realizing that there truly would be no getting out of your Friday engagement. Madison had dragged you to many a party in your three years of being friends, so it wasn’t as if it would be anything new. You weren’t especially opposed to parties, enjoying them just as much as Madison did sometimes, but you tended to prefer them whenever they were hosted by people you actually knew, having always been the type to gravitate more towards familiar faces rather than strangers. A party thrown by a friend of the guy Mads had been flirting with for the past month would be very unlikely to harbor any company you knew well and as such your enthusiasm for the event was sorely lacking. It certainly didn’t help that you simply hadn’t been in a partying sort of mood after how rough the past few months had been. But, as Madison had said, you’d promise her that you’d go and you’d never been one to renege on your own good word.

Drag your feet for a while before ultimately following through? Sure.

Break your promises and disappoint one of your closest pals? Not so much.

 **YN:** I’ll be there. You know I will. And, I’ll try my best to have fun while you attempt to woo what’s his face.

 **Mads:** TY! ILU!!!

 **YN:** You better.

 **Mads:** ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ! ! !

You snorted at the row of hearts and the kissy faces that then followed, setting your phone down to return to the other conversation you’d been having, fingers clicking away across the keys to finally respond to a friend who hadn’t been keen to pester you with reminders of upcoming engagements. A smile worked its way back onto your face as soon as you’d hit the enter key to send your message, a feeling of calm seeming to blanket you once you were settled back into the chat you’d been focusing on before Madison’s texts had become too pressing to ignore. You received a reply moments later and in no time messages were flying back and forth as they had been for the better part of two hours, through Discord at least. You hadn’t quite counted how long you’d exchanged messages during your earlier Fortnite excursions, but it’d been enough time to share details about one another’s days, talk trash about other players, and discuss whatever else seemed to come up.

The idea of finding someone who you only knew as **PUNctualRooster** so easy to get along with sounded silly, even after six months of online friendship, but there was no denying how much you enjoyed talking to the guy. What had started with a simple acknowledgment of your Fortnite prowess had inevitably grown, bit by bit, into an easy mix of camaraderie and playful shit-talking that became a steady friendship before you’d even realized it. A stranger with whom you shared a mutual love for the same game shifted into someone you’d come to chat with on a daily basis, sometimes only for thirty minutes while on other occasions you’d talked for hours on end. PR, as you’d come to call him once further familiarity set in, had turned into a person you could vent to about a crappy day or laugh with about hilarious events in your respective lives. He’d cheered you on or cheered you up more times than you could count despite having only known him for half a year, developing into someone who felt special and important regardless of the fact that you’d never heard his voice or seen his face.

He knew your favorite foods and your greatest fears while you had long ago become privy to his hopes for the future and where he’d grown up. It felt like he knew you, really knew you, even in spite of the fact that you’d never given him your real name and he’d never given you his, an unspoken line going consistently uncrossed without ever having put much of a damper on the growing closeness that seemed to stretch through your separate screens. You’d always looked forward to getting to hit him up regardless of what the two of you had planned to do, whether gaming or just talking to one another. PR felt like one of the brightest parts of your day to day life, an aspect of your routine that you always missed on the off occasion that the two of you hadn’t been able to talk. You’d made friends online before, but PR was the first you’d ever felt quite so connected to and he was the only one you’d ever found yourself wishing you could hang out with in real life.

There’d been comments about wanting to hang out, to see one another and hear each other’s voices, but they’d all been offhand comments never leading to a serious conversation about actually trying. For a long time, you’d thought that to be the best course of action, particularly while you’d still been in a relationship and uncertain of how your previous boyfriend might’ve felt about you going to meet a male online friend. Even despite having had a strictly platonic bond with PR at the time, the notion of seriously asking to see him face to face hadn’t seemed entirely appropriate and you’d given up on ever trying to bridge such a gap as your relationship with Ben had become further strained, hoping to work through a growing mountain of issues. Inevitably, he’d ended things and chosen to move on with the other woman he’d been secretly seeing, though not after accusing you of having a relationship with PR regardless of all the innocent conversations you’d let him read, his cheating and suspicion hammering the final nail in the coffin of what had once been a loving relationship.

It’d been months since things had ended and you’d healed, but the loneliness of Ben’s absence lingered on, feeling as if it occasionally drained you of energy and enthusiasm for most of the things you tended to enjoy save for your usual gaming sessions. You’d been doing much better over the past few weeks, but the hurt was still there, and somehow, PR seemed to be the most capable of making you feel better, cheering you up and reminding you that you deserved better. He always seemed incredibly earnest in his expressed hopes for you to be truly happy again and letting him know how much his friendship helped appeared to make him unbelievably glad to remain a positive force in your life.

 **PR:** The party might actually be good for you. I know how you feel about being around a ton of people you don’t know, but maybe you’ll actually have fun.

 **namelessheroine** **:** Maybe. You know me, though. I’m introverted as hell until I know someone, so if Mads ditches me to spend all night trying to hook up with this guy she’s so into then I’m probably gonna be bored to tears.

 **PR:** Could always leave early and come game with me instead. >;) She said you promised her you’d go, but you didn’t promise how long you’d stay, right?

 **namelessheroine** **:** You, sir, are an evil genius and I love the way you think.

 **PR:** Thanks. Seriously, though, try to have fun. I feel you about being an introvert, but maybe you’ll meet somebody that you actually click with. You didn’t expect us to end up being so close, but it happened, right?

 **namelessheroine** **:** True. Still, you’re PR. You’re special.

 **PR:** Annnnd now I’m blushing. Thanks for that.

 **namelessheroine** **:** You’re adorable.

 **PR:** (//U.U//)

You laughed out loud, pulling your feet up from the floor to lead your knees towards your chest, wondering if he really was as feeling as flushed as his words implied him to be. Without knowing what he looked like, you couldn’t picture how his eyes might scrunch or if he’d covered his face with his hands in the wake of your words, but thinking about flustering him was cute nevertheless. You bet he was cute in general.

“Not that I’ll probably ever know,” you mused quietly, trying to ignore the nagging desire to ask for more than you thought he’d be comfortable giving.

There’d been an urge of late to close the distance, however big it might be, that existed between PR and yourself, the feeling of wanting to see him, hear him, or even just learn his real name a barely there wondering that had grown over time. The unspoken boundary of knowing each other only through text hadn’t really bothered you much at first and he’d given little sign that it got on his nerves as well, so your relationship hadn’t changed much since your earliest conversations. No matter how much you did know about one another, how comfortable and happy you felt while talking with him, the slightest shift into a new longing had started to hover around you, leaving your mind and heart full of hopeful wonderings you weren’t sure you could ever bring up. The fact that your usual friendly compliments towards one another appeared to be bordering on flirtatious every once and a while did little to subdue your secret wish for steps forward.

You kept waiting to see if PR might say something first or show some sign that his periodical flirting was precisely what you wanted it to be; a sign of growing interest. But, he’d still never asked for your real name or for a voice chat during your usual gaming sessions and you were far too afraid to take that plunge first. It all felt like a complication your friendship probably didn’t need, extra stress you could do without when the bond you shared was one of the brightest parts of your life. Chasing PR away made you anxious and you had a feeling that trying to ask him for a little more personal information would likely send him packing. Perhaps things were better left as they were for the time being, as much as it genuinely sucked.

 **PR:** You’re probably cuter, though.

 **n** **ameless** **h** **eroine** **:** I mean, I am pretty cute. Idk if I’m cute enough to snag any attention at the party. I’m not specifically looking to catch anyone’s eye, but it’d be a nice ego stroke.

 **PR:** I’m sure you will.

 **namelessheroine** **:** Think so?

 **PR:** Pretty positive. I’ll try not to get jealous while some hot guy sweeps you off your feet and steals you away.

 **namelessheroine** **:** Ha! Like that’s gonna happen. I’m not gonna magically pick up a boyfriend in one night and casual hookups aren’t really my thing personally. I’m about 99% positive I’ll be back here and hitting you up for Overwatch before 10.

 **PR:** I won’t complain if you do, but…

He seemed to go quiet for a moment like he was debating about what he wanted to say next, and you stared at the glow of your screen in silence, waiting and wondering until he finally gave you an answer.

 **PR:** I do kind of hope you meet someone. I’m really glad to get more time to chat with you, but I know what happened with Ben hit you pretty hard and honestly, I sorta feel like it’s partly my fault. Like, maybe if we didn’t talk so much he wouldn’t have gotten all suspicious, you know? I just want you to be happy.

 **namelessheroine** **:** PR, no, don’t even go there. We’ve done literally nothing wrong by being friends. I always made time for him, but he never wanted to spend that time together. Probably because he was too busy fucking someone else. I’m not saying it’s all his fault that our relationship fell apart, but it was starting to go to shit before you and I started chatting more regularly. We would’ve ended up where we are now even if you and I had never become friends. Ben just…he wasn’t the right guy for me in the end. It sucked at the time, it still kinda sucks now, but I’m not hung up on him anymore. Mostly just aching from feeling a little lonely and touch starved.

 **PR:** Yeah. I get that. Sorry. I don’t mean to bring up a bunch of sore stuff for you. I just…

Another dredge of silence and anticipation passed, making you wonder what was going on in his mind or in his heart. It was a little silly, but the regret and concern you could feel pouring out from him made you want to reach up to touch your monitor. It was the closest you’d probably ever be to touching him and it was all you had, but you fought the impulse back and let your chin rest atop your knees.

 **PR:** I care about you a lot. Talking to you is the best part of my day most days and I hate thinking about you being sad or lonely or any of that. It means a lot to me that you value our friendship as much as I do, but I know it’s hard being close with someone you’re not truly close to. I keep hoping you’ll find someone who can give you the things that I can’t.

“You could,” you whispered, feeling confident in saying it out loud since it wasn’t as if he could actually hear you.

He’d probably never hear you and somehow the distance felt all the more vast, the ache in your chest feeling like it might consume you from the inside out. The things he said he couldn’t give you felt like a giant sign being waved in your face, a confirmation that the way things were was the way things were always going to be between you, his voice and his face a mystery while his presence would linger on through text alone. It was better than nothing. You were glad for what you had.

It didn’t make the feeling of rejection sting any less, though.

 **namelessheroine** **:** Yeah. Here’s hoping. I guess I’ll have to wait and see how things turn out on Friday.

You hoped the party would be better than you expected it to be.

\- -

“This party sucks.”

There was a good chance that you weren’t being fair no matter how much you’d been grousing to yourself as you wandered about, clutching a can of soda you’d hadn’t even come close to finishing. The party had been lively since you’d first arrived a good hour and a half ago, full of people without being so packed that you felt stifled. The penthouse the gathering was being hosted in was a massive place, allowing for plenty to see and a lot of space for moving about without constantly knocking shoulders with someone else. Hell, it was so nice you’d become envious of its owner the second you’d stepped past the entryway to see how clean, modern, and huge it was, the living room alone double the size of the tiny place you’d been living in for the past two years. You’d be awestruck by it, Madison leading you around by the hand so the two of you could take your own tour of the residence, mutually gasping out loud when you’d discovered a bathroom with a huge standing shower and an equally huge bathtub.

“Wow…Kyong’s friend is loaded,” she’d muttered at one point and you’d done little more than nod at her in mute amazement.

Mentioning the object of her affections had steadily diminished Madison’s interest in likely over-priced real estate, her reassurance that she’d return to you once she’d found her surely soon-to-be boyfriend a promise that you knew would only end up being broken when she hadn’t found you again nearly half an hour later. Certain that she’d probably gotten caught up with Kyong, flirting or making out, you’d cut your losses and resolved to at least try to see if you could have fun, peering about the party in some small hope of spying a familiar face. Nobody had been even remotely recognizable, anyone you’d attempted to strike up a conversation with either distracted from chatting once they spotted someone they knew or so unbelievably awkward that they made you feel comparatively more confident. After a few failed attempts at schmoozing, you’d given up on getting to know anyone and had elected to just meander about in aimless silence, clutching a drink you’d fished out of the kitchen while tapping your fingertips against the can to the beat of whatever song had started playing.

At some point, you’d finally caught sight of Madison, curled up on a couch with her face practically fused to that of who you assumed had to be Kyong, nodding your approval that she’d gotten her man even while the sight solidified that you’d definitely be on your lonesome until you finally gave in to the boredom to head home. You’d given thought to PR while making a repeat visit to the kitchen, perusing the assortment of finger foods laid out across the massive granite island, figuring you ought to at least snag a few snacks before you cut your losses. It’d been decided rather quickly as you reached for a paper plate that you’d enjoy a little something to eat out on the balcony, take in the view for a while, and then back home, wondering if it was a sad thing that you felt more fulfillment talking to someone you’d never meet then you’d likely find in the sea of strangers that you’d been wading through. As soon as the thoughts had passed you’d chided yourself for them, reminded of your friend’s insistence that you try to have fun, stuffing a chocolate covered strawberry between your lips as you’d finished arranging food on your plate.

Your goal of sequestering yourself out on the balcony had fallen flat the moment you’d noticed someone standing out on it, sighing to yourself in quiet disappointment while staring past the silhouettes of various party-goers wandering by, their figures briefly concealing the lone man taking up the space you’d hoped to occupy. For a moment, your eyes had lingered on his lean frame in silent dissatisfaction, as if your sulking could’ve prompted him to vacate the area, the idea seeming less foolish as he’d slowly looked over his shoulder to peer right in your direction. It had startled you, made you glance away for fear of having been caught staring, plucking another strawberry from your plate before you’d dared to look up again. The stranger had taken to watching you openly, back turned to the railing he’d braced his elbows against, head angled to the side in what had appeared to be a curious way, regarding you with something you had almost thought could’ve been interest. The distance hadn’t been significant enough for you to miss the fact that he’d looked pretty damn cute, but it’d been a large enough gap to provide you with plenty of room to escape, rushing off with your snacks in what had been a very peculiar response to potentially being checked out by a nice-looking guy. By the time you’d found an empty seat to flop down into and eat your makeshift meal in peace, you’d instantly started kicking yourself for your unexpected fight or flight response, uncertain of why your first instinct had been to dart away rather than try to talk to whoever he’d been.

The wordless berating had only intensified once you’d finally dared to head back to the balcony only to find it occupied by a couple making out like they’d been seconds away from fucking right there for all the city to see, the mystery man nowhere to be found. The absence of him, the busy status of your best friend, and another quiet few laps around the apartment had inevitably led you to your present state of being even more bored than you’d been at the start, once again weighing the pros and cons of just heading home.

“At least the balcony is finally free,” you mumbled with a brief smile, stepping past the open doors to let the cool night air envelop you completely, happy to have found the right opening to snag the spot while it was empty.

The noise of the party, all chattering voices and a Hip-Hop track you found unfamiliar, was sharp at your back while not being quite loud enough to drown out the sounds of the city stretched out before your eyes. The sea of buildings bore the glow of too many lights to count, a haze of brilliance that made the black sky look a little bit brighter in the night even with the stars blocked out. Through the billow of the night breeze came a rush of far off sirens and honking horns, traffic speeding about so far below that the vehicles almost looked like toys. Being high up bothered you little and the chill in the air wasn’t so awful, though you wouldn’t have called it completely comfortable when your arms and legs were fairly well exposed by your little black dress. The wind made you shiver or perhaps it was the way you felt inside, staring down at a metropolis full to the brim with life while feeling so alone you wondered how long you’d be able to stand it.

You stepped closer to the railing to brace your arms over it, sliding your thumb across the smooth aluminum of your scarcely touched soda in quiet indecision. There were plenty of different types of alcohol inside just waiting to be consumed and a small part of you longing to be more carefree debated just getting blissfully hammered, hoping for a boozy fog that might make you enjoy where you were more than sobriety would allow. The only thing stopping you was your own common sense acting as a stern voice in your mind reminding you that getting inebriated while sad would only make you sadder and the last thing you wanted would be to end up being the vulnerable drunk girl at a party full of strangers. There was never any telling when someone might try to take advantage.

“Fuck.”

As you took a swig of your soda, feeling the sugary sweet liquid bubble and fizz on your tongue, swallowing down with a gulp that felt louder than it sounded, you came to a decision. You had to do something to turn your night around, a refusal to relent to your own bitter resignations making you quietly contemplate what you could do to kick the obnoxious funk you’d been almost willfully stuck in. Chewing the inside of your cheek, you considered dancing as an option or maybe dragging Madison away from her beau to make her spill details, sure she’d forgive you for an interruption since clearly all the face sucking showed that things were going well with Kyong.

It was a party, for crying out loud! You could figure out how to enjoy yourself or possibly go hunting for that cute fellow who’d possibly been making eyes at you to see if he might actually be worth chatting up. It would beat standing alone, staring off into the distance while trying not to think of how much you wanted to be at home talking to a guy who surely wasn’t feeling the spark of interest that you’d started to.

“Oh my god, I’m so bored.”

“You too?”

The voice made you yelp, grimacing as you nearly dropped your soda over the railing, counting your lucky stars that you’d managed to keep your hold on it rather than risk hitting some poor pedestrian down on the street. Some of the carbonated liquid had spilled up from the can’s opening, swirling around the rim for you to slurp up when you saw fit to, but you found your attention quite well diverted by the man standing in the open doorway.

“Sorry. Wasn’t trying to scare you or anything.”

“Uhm, it’s okay. No harm done.”

Balcony Guy could only be some sort of mind reader given the way he’d seemed to manifest the second you’d started thinking about him, but you couldn’t even start questioning how silly that notion was when he was close enough for you to see him properly. Your previous assessment that he was cute hadn’t been wrong, but it hadn’t been completely accurate either, a nearer glimpse cluing you into the fact that he was absolutely, breathtakingly hot. He looked as if he’d walked out of a magazine photoshoot, dyed blonde locks perfectly parted with just the right amount of disheveled, like he’d been running his fingers back through the strands, and you couldn’t believe how smooth his skin was, how sharp his cheekbones were. His mouth felt as if it might do you in most of all, the defined shape of his full lips parting with a smile to reveal the most perfect set of teeth you’d ever seen, and you managed to collect yourself quickly enough to smile back, hoping you hadn’t been too obviously stupefied.

Even the way he was dressed made him look like a model, the fit of his tan pants and the leather jacket he wore making him look better dressed for the party than a fair few of the other folks you’d noticed hanging around. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d felt so flustered just from looking at someone, trying to figure out what to say as a brief silence stretched on between the two of you, suddenly feeling like one of the awkward people you’d made an effort to chat with earlier. Seeming to sense the quiet as an indication of discomfort, his smile shifted into a grimace, gaze turning back towards the interior of the penthouse.

“If I’m bothering you, I can-”

“You’re not bothering me.”

“No?”

He lifted a brow, appearing to need further assurance that you weren’t merely being polite, and you nodded, gesturing to the wide expanse of the balcony you’d chosen to occupy, showing him that there was plenty of space beside you.

“No. Besides, I don’t own this place, so it’d be pretty crappy of me to try chasing people off.”

“Yeah, you’ve got a point.”

He took a few steps closer, holding up the can of soda he’d apparently been nursing himself.

“Mark.”

“YN.”

You lifted your drink to clink your can to his, a bit bemused by his gesture of greeting and the fact that you both looked to be about the only people at the party avoiding getting sloshed or at least a little buzzed. If he just generally preferred sobriety or had his own set of rules about when he chose to partake of the stronger stuff wasn’t specifically your business and you felt a little wary of asking when you’d hardly exchanged more than a few sentences, a friendly greeting not really telling you enough about what sort of guy he was. For all you knew, he’d prove to be a pretty face capable of offering only stunted, awkward conversation rather than the entertaining, companionable chat you had been hoping for. There would be only one way to find out and you were curious to see if a good personality came with the good looking package, shifting your body around to lean against the railing as you had before he’d joined you. Mark seemed content to mirror your pose, taking a soundless sip of his drink as he looked out at the city lights, his face and his gaze slowly turning towards you.

“Get dragged here by a friend too?”

“Yeah, actually,” you replied, huffing out a soft laugh at the coincidental nature of things. “Ditched me pretty fast too.”

“For a hookup?”

“Are you me from another universe or something or are we both just really unlucky and way too sober for this shit?”

Mark laughed, his smile brilliant and his mirth so close to an actual giggle that you about couldn’t handle how adorable it sounded, feeling your shoulders shake from amusement rather than from the cool breeze flitting across your bare skin.

“All of the above save for the whole doppelganger thing. Honestly, I’ve been kinda wanting to grab a glass of wine and stare people down like a judgmental rich white girl, but that kinda thing probably wouldn’t be as fun to do by myself.”

“Now I wanna see your judgment stare.”

He straightened up and shifted to face you, holding his drink up as he regarded you, head ever so slightly angled as his expression soured. His gaze became unquestionably piercing, his mouth not quite a full frown while still managing to allude to some unspoken displeasure and had you not found the situation so damn funny, he would have been intimidating for certain. Nice as the guy had been thus far, you couldn’t say you’d wanna see what it might be like to legitimately get on his bad side.

“Holy shit, Susan. Tone it down before you kill someone.”

The laugh was back, loud and so endearing you almost couldn’t handle it, feeling like there ought to have been some unspoken rule written across the cosmos stating that a guy so hot shouldn’t have been capable of being so freaking cute. The way his eyes scrunched and his smile widened, brighter than any you’d ever seen, had you helpless to resist laughing right along with him, the sound and sight too infectious to deny. How he’d been spending the party bored and without companionship thus far made little sense, but you had to remind yourself that you’d only just started talking to him and the mutual amusement could very well have been a fluke. Regardless, you couldn’t say you were put off by the idea of talking to him a little more to see how things would go and that was more than you could have said for anyone you’d tried to hit it off with thus far that night.

Mark had another swallow of his soda, bending to set the almost empty can down near his feet, and he draped his forearms over the railing just as he had not long ago, head angled in your direction to show that his attention lingered on you.

“Thanks for that. I don’t think I’ve laughed at all since I got here until just now.”

“Honestly, same. Not sure if that means we’re both really boring people or everyone else at this party kinda sucks.”

“Oh, it’s 100% everybody else, our friends included. Clearly we’re the only cool people here.”

“Speaking of our friends, is yours named Kyong?”

“Nope.”

“Ah okay. If it’d turned out that your friend is the one my friend is hooking up with then that would’ve been a little too much coincidence.”

“Yeah. A little.”

He went quiet for a moment and the temporary lull in conversation miraculously hadn’t felt like the awkward pauses you’d grown familiar with that night. Both of your smiles remained and you felt no strain behind yours, hoping that the companionable bubble that seemed to surround you wasn’t something you were mistaking. You’d actually begun to enjoy yourself and it would’ve sucked to have that come to an end.

“You know…I’d suggest we try finding our friends to embarrass the hell out of them, but I don’t wanna corrupt you when you seem like such a nice girl.”

You shot him a look that was as incredulous as it was nearly insulted, the way he regarded you seeming to carry an edge of playfulness to it, as if he was trying to challenge you just a little. It was obviously a bit of bait he’d cast out, but you had no problem with going for it, the suggestion he’d offered far too promising to pass up.

“You can be a nice girl and still wanna harmlessly mess with your friends, so I’m down for pulling a little prank or two if you are.”

Mark’s face lit right up, the clear excitement he felt with your agreement making his smile look almost too boyish for how devious the two of you were planning to be. He picked up his discarded can, giving you the impression that he wasn’t the type to just leave trash laying around, and he extended his free hand out to you, willing you to take hold. It made sense to do, offering a means for the two of you to keep track of one another at such a full party in so expansive an apartment, but the gesture made your stomach do a brief little flip before you reached out. The second your fingers made contact with his Mark let out a gasp and pulled his hand away, quickly setting his can down to cover your hand with both of his.

“Holy shit! Your fingers are freezing! Are you cold?”

“Just a little.”

“I don’t know how you’re not shivering. Your hand feels like ice!”

He rubbed his palms back and forth to try warming up your chilled skin, letting go to unzip the white, collared jacket he had on under his leather outer coat. Shrugging them both off, he handed the lighter of the two over, slipping the black one on once again.

“Here.”

Taking the soda from your hand to set it aside, Mark stepped behind you to hold the jacket open, helping you slip into the article, and you were immediately protected from the chilly air, wrapped up in the scent of his cologne. It was a nice one, a scent you couldn’t identify by name, but it was subtle and so pleasant, prompting you to turn your head towards the collar to take in a deeper breath while his eyes were averted, crouching to pick up the two cans.

“Better?”

“Yeah. Much better.”

His smile was softer, sweet and it warmed you further, liking the feeling of receiving such caring attention. You’d always been the sort to be taken with simple gestures of thoughtfulness, liking it so much when a person showed you little acts of kindness that were honestly done without much thought. Holding open a door for you, offering you a french fry without prompting, sweeping a stray lash from your cheek and things of that nature had always been the kind of stuff that made you feel happy, cared for, and after having not received anything like it in months, you felt very pleased. Mark was a friendly stranger and nothing more, potentially wouldn’t become anything more, but for the moment, for that night, you were content to bask in what little fragments of joy you could.

You reached your hand back out and Mark took hold of it, fingers enveloping yours almost completely without shuddering from the yet unabated coldness of your skin. He started to head back inside, leading the way, and you followed, eager for the coming mischief and the promise of hearing more of his wonderful laughter.

\- -

As a pair, Mark and yourself snuck around the party to first pin down the locations of your respective friends, wanting to have a good idea of where your chosen targets had been loitering before launching into any plans. You found Madison still curled up on Kyong’s lap, giggling and smiling between shared kisses, the sight warming your heart while also filling you with diabolic glee. As happy as you were for her since things with Kyong appeared to be going so smoothly, the idea of having a little fun after she’d wholly ditched you for her man was as promising a goal as any you’d had all night. It took a few minutes more for Mark’s friend to be discovered, a lack of visibility after much searching leading him to text the guy, confirming that Dominic had hauled up in a bedroom with his girl. With locations sorted, you’d headed into the kitchen for snacks and sly ideas, bouncing back possible pranks with a matching zeal. It was agreed quite quickly that the pranks couldn’t be too mean or potentially harmful, the two of you wanting to have a good laugh rather than cause genuine upset or even any sort of damage to the property or possessions of whoever the hell it was hosting the party.

After much commiseration, two simple yet humorous plans were agreed upon and things were set into motion. Mark parked himself not far from where Madison and Kyong had settled, pretending to be very invested in observing something on his phone as he had his camera recording, looking like he was just a random fellow paying no real attention as you strode over to your friend. When you appeared before the couple, smiling and bearing a full glass of her favorite drink, a Moscow Mule, and a beer for her beau Madison’s face had brightened straight away, not even faltering when you simply waved off her thanks as you walked away, telling her to have fun. You were out of the room and thus out of sight the moment when she took a sip, the immediate and unexpected sourness of pickle juice causing her to spit out her mouthful right into poor Kyong’s face. Mark captured every moment from her shocked realization of what she’d done, to Kyong’s growing laughter as she explained herself while she dove into her purse to retrieve some tissues. You only heard her half-annoyed, half-amused shout of your name and a choice insult a few minutes later when Mark rejoined you on the balcony to share his footage.

Several minutes were needed before you or Mark felt able to calm the uproarious laughter that overtook the both of you, the level of cackling the pickle spit-take had cause generating a number of stares from different people as they passed the open double doors leading to your balcony base camp. It was with aching sides and watery eyes that the second prank was finally put into motion, waiting until your giggling had finally come to a halt before you fished through your purse to find your phone. Thanks to Mark, you’d come to learn Dominic’s phone number as well as a few details about his background, enough that you could startle him with information as you rang him up, calling him again and again until he finally answered. He remained perplexed and insistent as you fussed at him for making his ‘poor grandma’ worry, your own abysmal impression of an elderly woman seeming convincing enough to have the man trying to be polite in spite of your pestering. You dialed him again once he hung up with the assurance that you’d had the wrong number, calling him by his full name after he’d answered and scolding him like a proper granny trying to give her grandson a piece of her mind.

“ _Ma'am, I_ _guarantee_ _that you have the wrong number! My grandmother passed years ago, so you’re absolutely mistaken!_ ”

“Young man, I was there the day you were born, so don’t you try to lie to me!”

Glancing up, you noticed how hard Mark seemed to be trying to contain himself, a hand slapped over his mouth to muffle his growing desire to start laughing, particularly once you rattled off Dominic’s birthday as proof only to cause the man to go quiet in shock.

“Still don’t believe me? I just hope to heaven that you’re not off with that girl you were dating. What was it? Cassandra? Oh, I never liked her.”

“ _What the fuck? How do you know that?_ ”

“Watch your language or you’re grounded! Oooooh, just wait until you get home! I’ve about got it in me to paddle your back end!”

“ _I…ma'am…I don’t…_ ”

Hearing the baffled sound of Dominic’s voice as he struggled to find words, Mark let out a giggle that his palm simply couldn’t quiet and you knew the second that his friend registered the sound.

“ _Holy shit, is that Mark?_ ”

“Dude, you really should listen to your grandma.”

“ _You dick!_ ”

Prank finally revealed, you clutched your phone for fear of dropping it as you shook with laughter, Mark giggling freely while you noted the sound of whoever Dominic’s hook up was snickering on the other end of the line. The fact that she’d been a silent observer of the entire situation only to find it just as funny as you did made you feel the tiniest sliver of guilt for ruining whatever moment the pair may have been having, your mounting hysterics washing the feeling away the more Dominic cussed his friend for the deception. Crass language aside, his tone of voice made it clear that he wasn’t actually upset and Mark received his threats of vengeance without a stitch of regret, appearing totally prepared for whatever retribution might come.

“ _Seriously, man. First chance I get…sweet, sweet revenge._ ”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be waiting. We’ll leave you guys to do whatever you were doing before we started messing with you.”

“And remember, sunny,” you chimed in, resuming your old lady voice. “Wrap it before you tap it.”

“ _Oh my god!_ ”

You hung up before Dominic could say another word, shoving your phone back into your purse as you practically howled, tears quick to stream down your cheeks. Mark’s arms went around your body as the two of you fell into one another with hard, hearty guffaws that seemed poised to be endless. You laughed until your sides ached anew, until your cheeks hurt, and your lungs burned from the need to catch your breath. Standing up straight felt like a challenge when all you wanted to do was bowl over until you could finally regain control of yourself, holding on to Mark almost for dear life while his chest shook beneath your cheek. Keeping his jacket on came close to feeling uncomfortable, its presence and his closeness while you wheezed, wept from the humor of it all, making you feel hot. Finally being able to calm down again felt like a relief even in spite of your significantly improved mood, straightening your back as you took several deep, steady breaths and looked up at Mark, his smile a beautiful sight to see.

“Mark, you are officially the best part of this whole damn party. That was pure gold.”

He nodded his complete agreement, one of his hands cupping your cheek to wipe at the wetness of your tears with a few quick strokes of his thumb, repeating the action beneath the other eye until you felt a little less drippy.

“Am I a mascara monster now?”

“Nah. Don’t even have a smudge.”

“Cool, so I’m still cute?”

“Still cute, still beautiful, still the truly best part of this whole damn party. I’d say I’m more of a close second.”

“Well, listen to you being all charming and trying to make me blush.”

“Trying?”

His hand lingered on your cheek rather than drawing away and for a moment his smile appeared to shift, not so much sweet as it was sly, knowing.

“Your face feels a little too warm for me to think I did anything other than succeed.”

Ducking your gaze and feeling the heat he’d spoken of only grow until your face felt like it was almost burning, you gently eased his hands away with a soft laugh, turning to walk towards the railing. His words and actions had, for that moment, felt notably flirtatious, so evident that even you could clearly tell. It felt great having a hot guy, especially one who made you laugh so much, compliment you and show interest, but it felt like a sort of high edged with a low you couldn’t fully shake. What you’d known of Mark thus far made him incredible appealing, the sort of guy you didn’t think you’d at all mind giving your phone number to or seeing again at some point. Yet the notion of if he could be someone you might be romantically interested in, someone you could potentially start to feel something for with more time, felt like such an obvious maybe and it was all due to a faceless man who you couldn’t help wanting to be more than just a maybe.

For a few wordless moments, you felt caught up in a half and half state where you were enjoying the moment while struggling to give yourself to it fully due to the thought of things you could never have. It made you feel foolish, had you wanting to kick yourself for the pining you were doing when you’d only gotten indications that PR would never want to meet you, likely sharing none of the growing interest you’d felt building up. You didn’t look at Mark as you heard him moving to join you, seeing him coming to stand at your side out the corner of your eye without glancing his way, biting your lip as you tried to figure out your own feelings as well as something to say to him.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come on that strong and make you so uncomfortable.”

“You didn’t. I’m fine. I honestly don’t really mind you getting a little flirty. I just don’t really know how to respond to it, I guess.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you not being into it, YN.”

“No, I am. I honestly am, but I’m also kinda…I dunno…not sure how much I am. Which makes zero sense, I know, but it’s like I do sorta want the flirting even though I’ve got reasons why I don’t.”

“It doesn’t make zero sense at all.”

He exhaled deeply, the sound pronounced enough that you could visualize the notable rise and fall of his chest without even looking at him. When you finally felt keen to gaze his way again, hoping that the sound wasn’t an indication of agitation as you feared, Mark looked a little pensive rather than outright annoyed.

“Can I be honest with you about something?”

You made a humming sound of agreement, the noise drawing his attention over to your face before it darted away, a hand tugging through his blonde hair to linger for a moment, bangs falling around his brows once his fingers pulled back.

“I am into you, you know? You’re the first girl I’ve met in a while that I’ve had fun with like this and I kinda like it. And I wasn’t lying when I said you were beautiful. I meant that. The thing of it is that I’m not as into it as I wanna be and not because you’re not amazing, but there’s someone…this girl I know…I’ve been into her for a long time. I know she’s probably not into me that way, probably never will be, so I’ve been trying to get over it, but it’s just one of those things that’s easier said than done.”

“You wanna find somebody, but somebody isn’t her and trying doesn’t make what you already feel go away.”

“Yeah. Yeah, exactly.”

Mark seemed amazed by how much you seemed to understand what he was saying and what he felt, eyes broadcasting a level of longing that you knew was meant for someone other than you. You’d spied that look in the mirror so many times, your own aching visible with every glimpse of your own reflection after a conversation with PR. Your heart went out to Mark immediately and you’d have laughed at how much you both had in common had it not been such a sad thing to share, wondering if the mutual yearning for people outside of reach had subconsciously drawn you to one another. For as much as you’d had fun, gotten along through shared laughs, perhaps the thing that led you to gravitate towards one another was the loneliness that neither of you had been able to shake yet. You had a fragile connection in its infancy and beyond the attraction in it was a sense of having discovered a kindred spirit, a person carrying a similar heaviness in his heart.

“Guess we can chalk up this as another thing we have in common. As much as I don’t want you to stop with the flirting and as great as you’ve been, I can’t help thinking about someone else. It’s pretty fucked, isn’t it? Clicking with someone straight away, but feeling put off by it because you’re so caught up wishing like hell that the person you really want wanted you too.”

You wondered what it was like for Mark, if he was closer to the girl he’d been smitten with than you were to PR, unable to imagine how hard it had to be to actually see the person you had feelings for in real life. Was it more painful to be near enough to touch them, to know the way they sounded when they laughed and what they smelled like? Nearness and distance had to be their own unique types of agony, his heartache and your own alike in that it was born from the same reason. You had no clue how he was surviving it or if he’d ever try to take the chance that you were far, far too afraid to take yourself. Maybe he’d flirted with you to try forgetting for a while, hoping to chase his feelings away with someone good enough for the moment, good enough to take his mind off who he really wanted.

Knowing the truth wouldn’t be possible without asking, but you felt like you didn’t really want to, unsure if you could handle further confirmation of what you were certain was true and you hadn’t even the tiniest inkling of offense or anger. You understood too much to be hurt, drinking up that brief instance of closeness, of touch and tender praise, because you wanted _something_. Even affection coming from a place of chasing away loneliness felt better than none at all, a temporary balm for unsatisfied feelings seeming more appealing the longer that Mark looked at you, eyes sad and warm all at once.

He reached for you slowly, hesitance in his outstretched hand, but confidence took over when you met him halfway, lead back against his body and into the warmth he provided. None of the laughter of before followed into the embrace, silence prevalent between you as Mark held you close, letting you draw comfort from him as you gave it in return. It felt good, not right yet not entirely wrong either.

It felt needed. You felt needed and you wondered if he did too.

“YN?”

Mark looked like he was struggling to say something when your eyes met his, the pull of his teeth against his lip naturally leading your gaze down, your fingertips lifting to grip his chin, shaking your head until his bite receded. The hint of redness overtaking the pink of his mouth made you lean closer, pausing to search his face, see if you were reading things right or wrong.

“Wanna forget with me for a little while?” you asked him, voice quiet and uncertain.

He replied with a kiss, brief and cautious in an effort to be sure, and his hesitance melted away when you initiated the second, the nervous tension the first initial peck caused dissipating in mere moments. It may have only been for the moment, but kissing Mark felt sort of right, like you’d discovered the precise type of medicine needed to chase away a lingering type of pain. It was temporary, being with him was temporary, but you wanted it and felt determined to live just in the moment, reveling in the craving for his touch which grew as his mouth sealed over yours with a softness mired in growing urgency. The desperation for closeness after months without it made kissing him come so naturally, your body growing warm even before you’d felt the pull of his teeth on your bottom lip, his tongue soothing the ache just the way you knew every coming touch would for the rest of the pain you both carried. One of his hands pressed against the small of your back, holding you tight, and the sound he made in his throat when your fingers carded through his hair, tugging the strands, made your core tingle with the first curl of arousal.

You’d never had a one night stand, had never really been interested in having one, but the idea felt beyond appealing, the desire for pleasure given by someone other than yourself after months alone making you yearn for the man in your arms, enough that thoughts of PR were finally, mercifully pushed to the back of your mind. How you might feel tomorrow seemed inconsequential to the needs of now and you weren’t sure if sex would ruin any prospective chances of carrying on a friendship with Mark beyond that night, but you couldn’t bring yourself to give a damn. He was helping you forget, you were helping him forget, and nothing else seemed worth worrying about for now.

“Tell me how far you want this to go,” he whispered, pulling away from your mouth to kiss his way up your neck, the lowered timbre of his voice making you feel almost weak. “If this is all you want then it’s okay, but fuck, baby, I wanna know what you taste like so bad.”

“Do you have a condom?”

“Yeah. In my wallet.”

“Good.”

Stepping back a little, you took a breath to steady yourself, encouraged to see the way that Mark looked at that moment. His breathing had become a little uneven, his hair a little mussed, and the slow draw of his tongue across his parted lips made you want to pounce on him right there on the balcony, settling instead for reaching for his hand.

“We should find someplace where there are no people. Got any ideas?”

Mark nodded and soon he’d begun to lead you along through the apartment just as he had earlier before your pranks had been initiated. Searching throughout the home revealed only locked doors and occupied bedrooms, even such a spacious penthouse seeming to lack available space for another of many hookups certain to occur that night. The idea of taking him home or going back to his place seemed agonizing, the growing need to just feel him inside you so consuming that you weren’t sure you’d be able to handle a long cab drive without outright grinding on him in the backseat, moaning out your frustration upon coming across another locked door. For a moment, Mark seemed to start thinking, teeth to his lip and completely drawing your attention before he looked to have a wordless epiphany, taking you back through the apartment and towards the spacious entryway. Nobody paid the two of you any mind as you slipped out the door, letting it shut behind you to muffle the bass coming from the sound system, the hallway a great deal quieter and significantly more empty then the penthouse. Striding past the nearby elevators, Mark reached for the doorknob leading to the stairwell, pausing just short of opening it to stare back at you, expression uncertain.

“I don’t think anyone really uses the stairs over the elevators…”

You knew exactly what he was suggesting as soon as the words had left his mouth and while you knew that logically you should have asked him if he was out of his mind, balked at his idea, you were too horny and in truth too enticed by the riskiness of it all to say a word of protest. Maybe fucking someone you hardly knew in a stairwell that anyone could walk into was an absolutely terrible idea, something that you typically never would have considered, but in the heat of the moment it felt like as good a place as any. It was also much, much closer than your apartment.

Mark pushed the door open as soon as you nodded your agreement, drawing you into the unoccupied space to let the door shut with a thud. Together, you glanced down over the railing to see if you could spy a sign of anyone else hanging around on the landings below, finding that you were well and truly alone. Your footsteps echoed across the stone walls as Mark took you up one short flight of stairs leading up to the door that offered roof access, the landing there seeming to be the most private of them all and probably the best place to continue on without any embarrassing interruptions. He glanced around one last time, towards the ceiling to search for potential security cameras, and once he felt satisfied the your tryst wouldn’t go observed by unwanted parties, he drew you closer to him.

“Really sure about this?”

He turned you slowly, giving you room to move away if you wanted to as he crowded you back against the wall, stealing a kiss, and letting his hands begin to wander, mapping the shape of your waist through the material of your dress.

“I’m sure I’m gonna start pouting if you stop.”

With a soft chuckle, the sound so different from the charming giggle you’d become familiar with, Mark swooped a hand down around the curve of your ass towards the back of your thigh, the motion smooth and leading to the lift of your leg around his waist. He stepped closer still, head bent down to kiss you again as he slowly rocked his hips between your parted thighs, showing you just how sure he was about everything and the pressure of his cock against your core even while blocked by layers of clothing made you want to tear the jacket from his body. Instead, you curled your fingers into the leather and held on, lips parted and tongues meeting, following the subtle motion of his length grinding against your cunt.

Your lips were wet and your breathing shaky when Mark broke away to turn his attentions to your neck and your chest, his lips and teeth alike tugging at your skin with a bit of suction or a bite that had you whimpering. You didn’t think you’d need to see a mirror to know that blooms of color had to be littered across your skin, giggling lightly as he seared another bruise into your flesh with the heat of his mouth.

“Got a thing for hickeys, don’t you?”

“Eh, what can I say. I like to make my _Mark_.”

“Pffff! Did you seriously just make a goofy-ass pun while you’re dry humping me?”

“Sure did,” he replied, voice sounding completely smug, and you’d have looked down to see how beautiful his smile may have been had it not been for what he did seconds later.

His mouth reached the edge of your dress, nipping at your cleavage before his tongue teased along the line where the fabric met your skin, wanting to taste more of you, leave further imprints of his presence behind. You wanted more of the them, craving his mouth on the most intimate parts of you, fingers pulling the top of your dress aside to reveal your breast to him completely, so glad you’d chosen a dress that hadn’t required a bra.

“Fuck.”

The cuss sounded appraising, further compliments paid to your skin by the stroke of his tongue against your nipple, back arching when his teeth closed around the tender peak. You locked your upraised leg tighter around his waist, holding on without a need for the steadying grip of his hand and he used the freedom it provided him to cup your breast, head turning to the other, exposed with another urgent tug of your own fingers exposing yourself to him. His hips reared back, just enough to give his other hand space, angling under your skirt to rub you through the damp material of your underwear, lips moving back to yours when he felt how warm and ready you’d become.

“So fucking wet already, YN.”

He slipped his fingers past the waistband of the thin garment, needing to touch you directly, and the groan he let out was evidence of his approval, his delight to feel how slick your cunt was, digits dragging the wet of you across your clit. It swelled beneath his fingers, shudders of growing pleasure making you thrust your hips towards his hand, begging for more until you felt one long digit easing into you.

“Tight, baby. So damn tight. God, I want you on my cock so bad.”

A second finger had you leaning forward to bite into the leather that covered his shoulder, trying to stay quiet for the concern that your moans would echo in the stairwell and lead someone to find out what the two of you were doing. Even with a slow pump, palm pressing and cradling your clit, you felt close to delirious with pleasure, unable to think of anything else other than how much you wanted him to give you his cock soon, wondering how much of a stretch his erection might provide compared to his fingers. Needing to find out sooner rather than later, you reached for the front of his tan pants, feeling the cool metal of the chain dangling from his belt against the back of your hand, fingers undoing the buckle with a clumsy urgency. Mark didn’t stop you, lifting his head from your kiss-marked breasts to look you in the eye as you worked his pants open, brows furrowing when you delved beyond the band of his underwear to wrap your fingers around his cock, length twitching against your palm.

He felt thick, but not intimidatingly so, and you could tell he’d fill you up so well without discomfort, the way he curved promising so much pleasure once he was deep inside. As long as his fingers were, his dick was longer and you felt anxious to see how deep he’d go, watching his eyes close for a moment when you gave his shaft a firm squeeze followed by a slow upward stroke. You felt a small pearl of precum crowning the tip of his length, but it wasn’t enough to properly lubricate the touch you desired to give him, leaving you to consider other ways to make him feel good. Reaching down for his wrist, you gave a soft tug to ease his fingers away, Mark relenting with a look of confusion and though your core felt so empty with the loss of his touch, the pleasant curling of his digits making you wetter still, you had other things you wanted to experience. You led his hand upward, eyes darting from his coated fingers to his mouth, smiling as coyly as you liked.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to know what I taste like?”

No longer needing any guidance, he flashed you a pleased smirk and made a slow show of sucking each finger clean one at a time, grin growing wider at the way you shivered in response to his apparent delight. He even licked his lips once he was done, further showcasing just how much he relished the flavor of you on his tongue.

“Taste so fucking good.”

“And what about you?” you whispered, the kiss you pressed to his cheek seeming more innocent than your intentions. “I wonder how you taste.”

At the sight of you lowering yourself to the floor, set to kneel before him, Mark groaned out your name like you were nothing short of a wonder to him, and the sound sent your confidence soaring, smiling against the smooth head of his cock. One slow swipe of your tongue teasing across the tip of his length had Mark’s head lulling back and a repeat lave that traveled smoothly from the base of his shaft all the way up to the sensitive flesh just below the crown of his erection made his hips shudder, wrapping a hand around him to feel how he throbbed with the delicate pleasure.

“Open your mouth and take me in, baby.”

Mark leaned forward to brace an arm against the wall just behind you, bangs hanging around his cheeks as he stared down at you, eyes eager and waiting for the visual stimulation watching you suck him off would provide, and you weren’t about to disappoint him. Flashing him another smile, playful and beguiling, you took your time letting your lips part around the weeping tip of his prick, taking him in bit by bit, sealed with a tight suction that had his breath lodging itself in his throat. His mouth fell open, voiceless for what seemed like endless seconds until you’d swallowed down every inch of him that you could possibly take, and his low, restrained grunt sounded like perfection. You knew he had to be quiet, that neither of you could be especially loud given the precarious location you’d chosen, but you longed to hear just how loud he might be when caution was not a factor, betting that he had the sort of voice that would make your core clench hard. Thus far, he’d already sounded sexier than anyone had any right to be and he looked much the same, an absolute feast for your eyes as you drew back up on his length to stroke him with the press of your tongue and the tight seal of your swollen lips.

“Got the sweetest little mouth…” he breathed, smile reading out his bliss as your head began to slowly bob along the thickness of him, messy and wet as you both seemed to like it. “Touch yourself for me, YN. Your breasts…your pussy…whatever you want as long as I can feel you moaning around my dick.”

You let the flat of your tongue rub along the front of his cock as your mouth drifted up and back down, using a hand to follow the motions, unable to regret that you couldn’t handle taking him deeper when Mark seemed to be feeling good regardless. His words led your fingers to move, the hand not helping you pleasure him cupping one of your breasts, your own touch softer than his, but enough to content you for the time being, moaning as you pinched your nipple and longed for his teeth again. You wanted to quest lower, hike up the skirt of your dress so you could slip your fingers inside your panties, fill your dripping cunt up with two fingers just as you’d been doing for the past few months. Wet as you were, your smaller digits would press inside with even more ease than Mark’s had, but you didn’t want them like you wanted his. Strumming your own clit would feel good, but would also serve to distract you from how intent you were on riding your mouth along the length of his cock. You wanted to make him shake, make him struggle not to rock his hips towards the tight heat of your lips, and moreover, you wanted his desire to skyrocket until he could no longer hold back from fucking you.

It’d been so long, too long, and you were anxious to learn out how incredible he’d feel spreading you open, filling up the emptiness inside your body and heart, even if just for the brief time the two of you intended to share. When you sped up your movements, swallowing inch after inch of his length with growing enthusiasm, you could hear the soft echo of your mouth around him, the slick suction and matching pump of your tight grip making Mark moan as quietly as he could. His eyes remained open, still watching you, and he looked like a dream, so gorgeous as his gaze appraised you, both arms coming to rest against the wall as you built his pleasure up higher, pressing on with the want to bring him to the edge just so you could taste more of him coating your tongue.

“You’re unbelievable, baby. You have no idea of sexy you are. Could watch you swallowing my cock all night. Fuck! Fuck, that’s so good.”

His eyes nearly closed, biting down on his lip so hard you worried he might do himself harm, the way you’d popped his cock out to swirl your tongue around his tip making him seem to struggle to keep the volume down, and you wondered how close he was. He panted, chest heaving, and he shook his head when he saw your lips parting, reaching down to cup your cheek to halt you from moving forward.

“S'enough. Wanna fuck you so bad. Stand up for me.”

Dropping his hand from your face, he held it out to you, helping you up from your kneeling position once your fingers met his, kisses peppering your lips and your brow as soon as you were standing before him again. His hands and yours were everywhere, voices muffled by intent kisses, Mark’s jacket hitting the floor along with the jacket he’d loaned you and the purse you’d been wearing beneath it. He tugged up your skirt at the same time that you started yanking down your panties, bodies separating so that you could finish stepping out of the sodden material while Mark pushed his pants and underwear down around his thighs, moving everything out of the way. He gave you one more kiss, leading you into it with a gentle pull against the nape of your neck, nipping your bottom lip just before he turned you away from him to crowd you up against the wall.

“Want it like this, baby?” he asked you, voice thick with arousal, mouth so warm against your neck as a hand drifted down to the crux of your thighs, touch so light against your clit that it was more of a tease than anything. “Me behind you, fucking my cock into you so deep while I play with your clit until you’re cumming hard for me?”

Your thighs spread a little wider, ass bucking back against his cock to make him hiss and groan at the pressure, nodding your head to show just how amenable you were to the idea. If it had all just been guesswork or a personal preference on his part you couldn’t say, but the fact that he wanted you in the way you liked best, in your favorite position, had you feeling even more ready. You took hold of his hand to lead it away from your clit, smiling over your shoulder at him.

“Get the condom on and get in me now, Mark.”

“Forgot to ask nicely.”

“Do you want me nice or do you want me now?”

He seemed to find your playful sassing more adorable than agitating and you heard him shuffling with his pants to find his wallet, another backward glance letting you see him retrieving the tiny foil square, tearing it open. You turned forward just after he’d started to pinch and roll the latex sheath down his length, anticipation leaving you almost jittery, hyper-aware of just how wet you’d gotten and how needy you were for an orgasm, thinking that you truly were close to asking him nicely to take you straight away. The touch of his cock brushing against your tender slit had you sighing in relief, eyes closing as Mark pushed in just enough to let you feel how he’d start to fit, hands moving to grip your hips just so he could lead you back as he oh so slowly pressed himself forward.

“You’re taking me so easily, baby, even though you’ve got the tightest little cunt. It’s like you were made for me.”

He took you with a savoring slowness, urging your hips to follow him, and you relented to the almost leisurely stroke of his dick filling you up because it felt so wonderful, giving you just what you needed. For a little while, all your prior urgency was forgotten, falling to the wayside with the satisfaction of just being so full, of having someone leaning over your back to trail kiss and bites along your neck and shoulder. Being close, hands questing away from your hips to caress other places, was a nearness you almost felt you’d started to forget when your heart had been through a downward spiral of losing one person you’d care for and suffering the distance of caring for another somewhere unseen. The memory of how someone else’s scent and warmth could affect you, make you feel alive and treasured, even in such a temporary way, was a fulfillment you wanted to drink in for as long as it could last. Mark’s hands on your breasts and between your open legs, stroking the tight bud above the gentle thrust of his cock stretching you out just right was rapturous. You wanted more, faster and harder, but it was a need you could stave off for a little while, the tenderness of each and every touch soothing to the aches inside you.

“God, I love how you feel, how you sound even when you’re trying to be quiet,” he whispered, voice almost like a soft purr, teeth making you gasp as they tugged lightly on your earlobe. “Can’t wait to see how you’ll feel when you cum.”

Mark made you feel so good, the way your body responded to his feeling so natural and right even though you didn’t really know him. It was as if the scarce amount of time you’d spent with him, the kinship you’d unveiled through your conversations and mutual pain had made him more familiar. There was such an ease to being with him, giving yourself over to him and the pleasure he was providing, that you couldn’t imagine being able to casually sleep with just anyone. Perhaps you were simply drunk on bliss, on the relief of the intimacy, and were viewing things through rose-tinted glasses, certain that you’d see things differently once you’d come off the high he was sure to provide for you. Confusing a coming orgasm with true affection over recently discovered friendliness would’ve been foolish and you resolved to remember that once all was said and done, thoughts fading away as Mark’s hips steadily picked up their pace to lead all your attention back on feelings purely physical. Each stroke pressed so deep, his hips rolling to ensure that he’d angled his cock just right for you, finding a quicker rhythm that showed how much he wanted to make you feel good rather than focus just on what felt best for him.

Diligent and incredibly dexterous as well, the more vigorous snapping of his hips didn’t distract him from using his fingers to drive you wild, nipples pinched and teased just as surely as your clit, the way he strummed a wonderful pressure between your legs frenetic yet still purposeful. Mark seemed to have an instinctive knowledge of what you liked best, what you needed, learning how to make your pussy clench and tingle faster than Ben or anyone who came before him. Staying quiet was a challenge, tears pooling in your eyes not only from how intensely good it all was but from the effort it was taking to keep yourself from moaning loud enough to cause the sounds of your pleasure to resonate. Already the slapping of his hips meeting your ass filled the air around you, just loud enough that anyone who might find themselves on the landings just below would surely hear what was going on. You were still wary of being caught, but just as aroused by the risk of it when it was so new, an experience you’d never tried before, and the fact that Mark’s mouth scarcely left the side of your neck or the back of your shoulder let you know he was on much the same page. What sounds he couldn’t fully suppress were certain to fill your fantasies going forward, the strangled grunts lodged in the back of his throat and the whispered words he dared to speak hotter than hell. You were willing to bet you could cum from his voice alone if you’d had the chance to hear him when he had no need to hold back.

“Fuck, YN, you’re so pretty, so fucking beautiful with my marks all over you.”

He turned his head towards your cheek, seeking a kiss, hand leaving your breasts to angle your head to the side so your lips could brush, gentle compared to the welcome urgency of his length spearing into your pussy, orgasm closer still and threatening to overtake you at any moment.

“Please, tell me you’re mine. Just for tonight. Even if it’s a lie.”

That feeling of wanting to belong to someone, needing it, made you kiss him harder, trying to pour as much passion and care into the seal of your lips on his.

“I’m yours, Mark. Just yours.”

“Mine,” he nearly growled, tucking his face against the side of your neck as his cock throbbed within you, strokes so deep and his fingers so intent on your clit. “And all fucking yours, baby.”

It was an empty promise, but in the moment it felt real and you could feel yourself coming undone, tearing apart at the seams with a whimper, a sound meant to warn him of the loudness you wouldn’t be able to hold back. Your cunt wavered, growing tighter inside, clit pulsing with pleasure, and Mark’s hand covered your mouth the second he felt you start to cum, muffling your cry against the pressure of his palm. Your thighs trembled, knees close to buckling, the support of the wall before you becoming like a safety net, and you sagged further against it as your hips worked back on his cock wildly, feeling like you were floating and falling at the same time. Mark’s hand only fell away when he was sure that the volume of your cries had softened, arms wrapping around you as he panted and gasped behind you, groan so soft that you wouldn’t have known it to be a sound telling of his release had you not felt the way his dick had begun to slow within you. The warmth of his cum spilling inside the condom came in waves, ending far too soon yet seeming to leave him utterly satisfied, happily spent by the time his hips had gone totally still. One last, light nip to your neck seemed like a silent gesture of appreciation and temporary contentment, Mark clinging to you for as long as he could before he had to pull away to remove the latex barrier sheathing his softening length.

You gave yourself a moment to come down and collect yourself, righting the top of your dress as you turned around on wobbling legs, leaning back against the wall with a growing weariness that wasn’t entirely unwelcome. Mark tied off the rubber, setting it down temporarily so he could tuck his wet length into his dark boxer-briefs, pants drawn up and belt buckled before he bent down to scoop your panties up off of the back of his discarded jacket. He smiled at you, the expression seeming to have lost none of its warmth, and it helped to prevent the onset of any potential awkwardness, the way he knelt before you so he could help you step back into your underwear a thoughtful gesture you appreciated very much.

“Soooo, what do we do about the condom?”

“Uhm…I think I saw a few trash cans back in the hall. I can just drop it in one, so we don’t have to sneak back into the party with it. I mean, if you wanna go back.”

“Honestly? I kinda don’t.”

Not going back meant ending the night, ending what had just taken place between the two of you, and as soon as you said the words you almost wanted to take them back. The thought of spending just a little more time with him, even another hour, was as promising as it seemed risky, giving you the fear of feeling more than you needed or wanted to, led on by the aftermath of some of the best sex you’d ever had. It felt dismissive to say goodbye so quickly, but you knew even with a lack of experience with them that one night stands couldn’t really exist as they were if you let yourself try to view the connection between you as anything more than what it was meant to be. The void in your chest had been filled for a while and the physical needs you’d been dealing with had been satisfied. It made you feel good, better than you had in months, but it wasn’t a good that would stay for long before reality properly soured it.

Maybe it was selfish to put up walls and distance as fast as you could, maybe even made you seem unkind, but the way Mark nodded his agreement to your words seemed to show that your wariness was not so much unfounded as it was understood. Sweet and wonderful as he was, the two of you had only been meant to help each other forget people you would probably never be able to. You’d been as much a means to an end for him as he’d been for you, the way you’d so easily meshed together and gotten along having allowed for a smooth transition into a casual fuck. There was no animosity or true callousness to it, just two people slowly coming back to reality and hoping to step away from the illusion of something real with as much kindness as possible. Mark would probably not become a friend and you weren’t sure if you’d see him again after that night, but as far as memories went, you wanted him to be a fond one. A quick goodbye was the only way you could see that being possible.

“Me either,” Mark eventually agreed, handing you your purse and his white coat before he pulled on his leather jacket. “Care if I walk you down to your car? Wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t make sure you headed off towards home safely.”

“Not at all. I appreciate it.”

With an awkward grimace, Mark snagged the condom by the knotted end and offered you the opposite arm to hold on to if you needed it, your hand gripping his sleeve as you silently trekked back down the landing just below. Cautious glances were cast past the door as you both peeked down the hall, thankful to find it empty and truly bearing a few small trash cans here and there, the proof of your risky excursion dropped into one as it was passed by. Silence prevailed, causing every sound the elevator made once you’d stepped into it to seem thunderous and booming until you followed Mark out on to the sidewalk soon after, traffic and city nightlife significantly louder than the occasional ding of different floors being reached. You shivered at feeling the cool night air again, thankful for Mark’s jacket and the way he rubbed his hand up and down your back as you took the occasional glance at your phone, eyes searching the streets for the ride share you’d put in a request for.

Not saying anything else to him when you’d be gone in mere minutes started to feel wrong, leaving a sour taste in your mouth you could really bear. Embracing him, seeking out just a little more of the comfort and closeness he’d given you felt like a terrible idea, but as the sadness of before crept up on you again, heightened by the additional odd melancholy swept in by your coming departure. The conflict of your own feelings made you wonder just for a moment if you’d made a mistake, beginning to realize that maybe you truly weren’t cut out for one night stands, but you pressed your body against his despite it all, wanting him for just a bit longer.

“Thank you for tonight. This honestly feels kind of awkward now, but I did really have fun with you. Not just because of the sex.”

Mark’s arms held you close, hugging you just as he had out on the balcony so far above your heads, when your fleeting connection had still been laughter and barely shared wounds. It felt like he was hesitant to let you go and you mirrored the notion in your heart, wondering what you could have felt for him had you not been carrying a torch for another man.

“It was the same for me, YN. It really was. I’m not gonna pretend I’ve never done this kind of thing before, but the way this felt was a first for me. I don’t know you, but I feel like I do at the same time. Crazy, right?”

“Yeah, probably. It’d be another thing we have in common, though. Maybe we should’ve started writing a list.”

He laughed, letting you hear the giggle you’d never forget just once more, a smile on his face as he let you go and stepped back.

“I think your ride is here.”

Mark waved a hand at a tan Chevy which had pulled up to the curve, the call of your name confirming it, and you waved at the driver as you headed towards the vehicle, the man at your side walking ahead to open the door for you. He shook his head when you started to take off the jacket he’d loaned you, showing no evidence that the thought of giving it away bothered him. Maybe he wanted you to have something to remember him by, remind you of the all too brief moment where you’d shared in the fantasy of belonging.

You parted your lips, willing yourself to say what you really wanted to say deep down, something in your confused heart telling you to give him your phone number, offer him some means of seeing you again someday. Instead, you whispered a goodbye, sliding into the back seat of the car.

“Hey, YN?”

He hovered near the still open door, smile growing softer and seeming a little hopeful, almost encouraging.

“He’ll come around one of these days. If he doesn’t, then he’s a fucking idiot.”

Whether it was true or not, it was nice to hear and unbelievably sweet of him to say, your hand touching his cheek as his words touched your heart.

“She’ll come around too. You’re too wonderful not to fall in love with.”

Mark turned his head, kissing the softness of your palm, and he stepped back with your words hopefully giving him a little encouragement. The two of you were both probably wrong and far too optimistic for one another, but it didn’t feel like it really mattered if what you’d both said to each other was true. Words of kindness felt like a much better goodbye than a silent parting and you gathered them up in your heart to hold them there, watching Mark disappear from sight as the car started to move away.

Maybe you’d never have any luck with PR, but you knew that eventually, at some point, Mark would get his girl.

You just hoped she was as wonderful as he deserved.

\- -

Waking up Saturday morning left you feeling fatigued, like you hadn’t slept a wink despite having passed right out the second you’d fallen into bed the night before. Early as the hour was and as delighted as you were that your avoidance of alcohol had allowed for no unwanted hangover pains, the inclination to actually get out of bed to make the most of your day off was nowhere to be found. All you felt once your eyes opened and adjusted to the sight of your bedroom was a familiar sense of disappointment once you stretched out an arm across your mattress to find the space beside you as empty as it had been for the past few months. It shouldn’t have bothered you when you were so used to it, especially not after you’d at least gotten laid last night, but hours later and far too many thoughts having passed, you could only seem to feel just as lonely as you’d already been, if not more so. Regret was absent in you, a feeling mercifully far from the jumble of other emotions swirling through your sleepy mind, and you were happy at the very least that the first thought you had of Mark was full more of fondness than remorse.

“Fuck, why didn’t I give him my number?” you mumbled, draping an arm over your eyes to block out the warm glow of sunlight beaming through your thin curtains.

Would he even have called you some day if you had? You couldn’t say you were sure and with as caught up as he’d been in his own feelings for someone else, you wouldn’t have really blamed him for choosing not to reach out if you’d provided him with the option. As you sat up in bed, rubbing your hands over your face like you could wipe away the bleariness you felt, you started to think on Mark’s predicament and your own, head angling in the direction of your laptop sitting atop your dresser. He’d insisted that someday PR would come around and you’d wished the same for him, but how much of a chance was there really? The time you’d shared with the handsome blonde had left you feeling different, conflicted and aching, but also with a growing sort of wonder. You were one person in a world full of people struggling with hidden feelings, but you’d still managed to click with someone in spite of them, even if it had only been for a short span of time. The fact that such a thing had even been possible made you wonder what else you might be capable of, it you might still have a chance to find someone you connected with even if it turned out that PR truly didn’t feel the same way about you.

How could PR come around someday if he had no clue what you were feeling? How could you find the strength to move on and stop agonizing about what ifs without actually taking the chance to find out just what might actually happen? Maybe your sleepiness made you feel a little braver than you normally would have been at any other part of the day or perhaps the roller coaster of emotions you’d ridden with Mark the night before had opened you up to wanting to be bold, try for things you normally wouldn’t have. Maybe it was time to bite the bullet and put things to rest or see if your secret hope that a deeper relationship could thrive had any merit.

“Fuck it.”

You climbed out of bed just long enough to snag your laptop from the dresser, flopping down cross legged atop your rumbled sheets as you opened the device to power it on, fingers tapping out an anxious melody against the space beneath the keys. Waiting for it to fully boot up, load up past its initial few minutes of sluggishness, was a test of your patience, but once it was good to go, you opened up Discord without a hint of hesitation. No new messages awaited you and it felt like saying what you wanted to say would be easier without anything else to address first, providing you with an opportunity to rush your words out before you could filter them, chewing your lip all the while.

 **namelessheroine** **:** Hey, I know it’s early and this is really random, but I’ve gotta say this now before I get too scared to ever try again. I hooked up with someone at the party last night and he was great, it was great, but at the same time, it wasn’t everything I wished it could have been. I know you said you wanted me to meet someone and I did and I really did like him, but the fact of the matter is that I like you, so I couldn’t really bring myself to see if anything else could happen. And I know this is a lot and you’re such an amazing friend and I don’t wanna scare you away, but I can’t help it. I know this all sounds crazy since we’ve never actually met, but I’m really, really into you. I’ve been trying not to let myself be into you like that, but I am. I really like you, PR.

The moment you hit the enter key you knew you’d sealed your fate, whatever it might be and you let out a shaky breath as your own sent message stared back at you. There was an impulse to slam your laptop shut, avoid whatever mess you may have just made, but you resolved not to panic or start freaking out until PR’s response or his possible lack of one gave you good cause to. Early as the hour was, he could have still been in bed, so you had to remind yourself that he might not have anything to say for a while, groaning at the thought that you’d essentially gone in with your confession textual guns blazing before you could lose your nerve, but at the cost of setting yourself up for a potentially long wait. Deciding that you may as well have some coffee if your day was going to start off with a giant heap of anxiety, you set your laptop aside and headed into the kitchen to snag a much-needed cup of Joe. At some point you’d have to shower and get dressed, do a little housework that you’d been too lazy to take care of during the week, but it seemed completely justified to idle about for the next hour.

Just as you’d had the thought that you ought to avoid your computer for a little while rather than obsessively check for a reply, you found yourself padding back into your bedroom, gingerly sipping from the steaming mug you carried. A nervous glimpse at your screen showed a response and you fought not to spill hot coffee all over your hand as you tried to set the mug down on your nightstand in a hurry, lifting the laptop into your shaking hands.

 **PR:** Would it be too much if I asked for us to meet up? I want to see you.

-

The french fries barely tasted like anything and you wondered how much of it was a result of how nervous you were, continuing to idly snack on them as you forced your eyes to stay fixed on your phone rather than dart up every single time you heard the entrance door ding with a new arrival.

“ _You’re twenty minutes early_ ,” you tried to remember in an effort to fight the worry that you’d be stood up. “ _Give him time_.”

You were as excited as you were afraid, giddy as could be while suffering from an equal amount of worry, feeling like your emotions were slingshotting in one direction and then another ever since PR had messaged you back several hours ago. In the back of your mind, you couldn’t keep from calling yourself reckless for agreeing to meet so readily when he’d proposed the idea, a little bit frustrated that you’d made plans to see each other not only so fast, but also without having even had an actual phone call first. After your confession, PR had told you that he wanted to see you as soon as you felt comfortable doing so, providing no words of rejection yet no admittance of equal feelings either, saying only that the things he’d been wanting to tell you were things he wanted to say face to face someday instead. Exchanging general rather than specific information about where the two of you lived to figure out distance and dates had led to the surprising discovery that the man you’d befriended months ago actually lived in the exact same city. The knowledge had you laughing, blown away by the fact that he’d been so close the whole time even while you’d been so sure he had to be far away.

You’d left it up to PR to decide when he wanted see you, agreeing with his suggestion that your first meeting ought to be somewhere public, in a place where neither of you had cause to feel afraid. Your friendship, no matter how genuine it was, couldn’t changed the fact that you’d shared a strictly online connection, and trying to be safe with someone you’d never met up close felt like the correct way to go about things. You trusted PR, wouldn’t have developed feelings for him if you felt like you couldn’t, but knowing even more about him first, before daring to spend any time alone with him, was a necessity. The fact that you were both in agreement of that allowed for so much peace of mind and meant that most of your worries stemmed from what he’d have to say to you, if he felt the same as you’d confessed to feel.

Though your meeting had not specifically been labeled a date, you’d had to talk yourself out of dressing up a little, sticking with a pair of jeans, a graphic t-shirt, and the white jacket Mark had let you keep, wearing it like you were donning the hope for a happy ending he’d expressed to you last night. Although you’d ended up wanting to look nice the first time PR saw you, nicer than you felt you looked at the present, you also hadn’t wanted to set yourself for even further disappointment by getting all dolled up for someone who might not see you as more than a friend.

“ _If that was the case, though, wouldn’t he have said as much on Discord? If he wanted to reject me, why would he want to save that for when we meet face to face?_ ”

You stuffed a few more fries in your mouth, reminding yourself not to think about everything so hard, psyche yourself out without a need for it, scrolling through your Twitter feed and exchanging texts with Madison as you waited. From what she’d said, Kyong had asked her out officially at the party last night sometime while you’d been off with Mark and you decided that he seemed like a great guy for your friend if he’d wanted to start dating her even after she’d spit pickle juice all over him. She was beside herself with joy, thanking you again and again for going to the party for her while also doing her best to fish details out of you about where you’d disappeared to last night and with whom. You’d decided, for the time being, to remain mum about it and promised her that you’d talk to her about things later that night, crossing your fingers that maybe you might have the chance to let her know something good about PR. If you’d gotten laid and then gotten a boyfriend as well, Madison would likely be over the moon with happiness for you and if things didn’t pan out in the restaurant that afternoon, she’d probably end up at your apartment with a hug at the ready and your favorite takeout in hand.

The front door of the restaurant rang out again, a chime that seemed to tease you each time you heard it, but you managed to keep your gaze lowered, resisting the familiar lure of temptation. You stretched a hand out for your soda, sipping through the straw with a few greedy pulls, reaching again for the fries just before you, feeling the heat of them against your fingertips.

“YN?”

A fry had been seconds from entering your mouth when you heard your name being uttered, lips snapping shut in surprise as your head shot up, the familiar face you saw before you certainly unexpected. Mark looked every bit as amazing as he had the night before, look seeming a bit more casual, but somehow just as becoming even in just some ripped jeans and a t-shirt with a flannel button-down. His smile was bright, friendly, but surprised for sure, seeming just as caught off guard to have come across you so soon after you’d parted ways. Seeing him again wasn’t something you’d been anticipating, but you found that you didn’t mind it, returning his smile with a shy one of your own, knowing that it was silly to feel even the slightest bit bashful when the man had been inside you less than twenty-four hours ago. You definitely hadn’t felt very timid then and you wondered if it was just a common result of encountering someone you’d had casual sex with.

“Hey, Mark. Fancy seeing you here.”

“Yeah, this is a surprise. You look nice.”

His grin seemed just a bit more teasing, eyes dropping down to the white material keeping you nice and cozy.

“Oh yeah, do you want your jacket back? It’s not so chilly out today that I need it all that much.”

“Nah, you can keep it. Honestly, you look way better in it than I ever did.”

“I respectfully disagree, Mr. GQ, but I appreciate you saying that. You’re sweet.”

Mark let out a little laugh, sweet to hear and impossible not to smile over, hiding the way your lips stretched wide behind your hand for a second. You had to admit that seeing him again was really nice, a lucky coincidence that made you wonder if your decision not to ask for his number and the regret you’d felt over that choice this morning was all leading to a second chance to open up avenues of communication with him. Was running into him again the universe’s way of telling you that friendship with him might be in the cards, more worthwhile than you may have considered? You weren’t really positive, especially not as you remembered the reason why you were at the restaurant in the first place, the thought of PR’s hopefully impending arrival reminding you that it may not have been the best time to see if Mark wouldn’t mind keeping in touch.

He seemed to notice the hint of discomfort that overtook you in the silence that fell, glancing back towards the front of the restaurant before he looked down at you once again, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

“Hey, I’ll chat with you before we both leave if you don’t mind, but I’m meeting someone and I wanna order some food first.”

“That’s fine. I’m waiting for a friend myself, so I’ll talk to you a bit later.”

“Okay. Cool.”

Mark hovered just for a second, appearing to want to say something else, but he ultimately turned away with a wave of his hand, making his way towards the front counter to place an order for food. You wished you had his appetite, the fries you’d been snacking on the only thing you’d felt comfortable ordering when your stomach kept wanting to knot up the longer you waited for PR to arrive. A burger would’ve been a great addition to your tiny lunch, but until your nerves had been sorted out, you decided to wait out a bigger meal, turning your attention back to your phone and an endless array of gaming memes. You’d begun to snicker over a fairly decent joke about Fortnite skins when your phone displayed a notification that you’d gotten a new message in the Discord app, tapping the alert to open up the chat window straight away, heart about ready to burst out of your chest.

 **PR:** Hey, what are you wearing today, so I know what to look out for?

 **namelessheroine** **:** A pair of jeans, a blue Monster Hunter graphic shirt, and a white jacket. What about you? It’d be nice to know what to keep my eyes peeled for so I’m not looking up at everyone who passes my table. lol

You watched and waited to see the indication that he was typing out his response, worrying your lip with your teeth as the seconds ticked by until a few minutes had passed. Had he gotten caught up by traffic or something on the way over or had he taken a glimpse through a restaurant window and then run away as soon as he saw you? The second possibility, you knew, was a needless worry caused by your growing insecurity and you did your best to tamp it down, telling yourself that he wouldn’t run away just at the sight of you if he was in fact coming at all. The guy you knew had never given any sign that he was that superficial, though he could have just hidden it well. There was a lot one could conceal behind the safety of their computer screen.

Before further fearful trains of thoughts could start to overwhelm you, a tray of food slid into place before the opposite seat of your table, eyes flitting from the meal to the man who had settled it there, Mark staring down at you with his phone in hand. He looked shocked, mouth open and almost starting to tilt into a grin, one brow angled up curiously.

“Okay, this might sound really weird but does **namelessheroine** ring any bells?”

If your jaw could’ve smacked the floor like a cartoon character’s would have then you were certain you’d have cracked the tiles with the amount of shock those words brought on. As it was, your mouth did drop open to a more normal degree, phone slowly lowered to rest on the table, Discord chat on display for anyone to see.

“You’re…Mark, are you **P** **UN** **ctualRooster**?”

He tilted his head back and giggled like he’d just gotten the best news of his life, the sound so happy and so welcome it had your heart beating faster, anticipation and hope turning the knots in your stomach into butterflies. He held out his phone, letting you see the same conversation you’d just been looking at on your own screen, his smile so wonderfully wide that you knew in an instant that the discovery you’d both made together was one he couldn’t have been more thrilled by. For a moment, as you processed the news, you weren’t sure what to do or say, feeling like your brain was suffering some serious lag, but it didn’t last for long before you were clumsily scrambling out of your seat to hug him. Mark slipped an arm around you before your body had even fully met his, his phone dropped carefully to the table just so he could embrace you completely. His continued laughter had your own coming out, the almost glorious absurdity of it all just too wonderful not to be stuck chuckling over how things had turned out.

The feel of him, the smell of his cologne, and every little bit of him you remembered from last night tied itself to every conversation you’d shared with him over the past several months, chasing away the image in your mind of avatars and screen names to finally let you know who he was and who he’d always been. It made so much more sense why you’d connected so easily with him the previous evening, sparks flying because there’d already been something there without either of you knowing it. The more you thought on it, the more it seemed to make so much damn sense, the pun he’d made while he’d been giving you the network of hickies all over your neck so very PR-like that it probably would’ve smacked you in the face with how obvious it was had you not been so sure you’d been sleeping with a stranger rather than your crush.

“Oh my god, I’m such a dumbass! If I’d just asked you if you were into gaming last night we probably would’ve figured this out already.”

“Yeah, but how often do you luck out when you use a pick-up line about Overwatch? Cause it’s never worked out very well for me before.”

“Would’ve worked on me in a heartbeat.”

“Well, good. I’ll remember to talk about escorting payloads the next time I wanna turn you on.”

“Please do, cause I’d be so into that.”

What he said was just as flirtatious as some of the things he’d said to you at the party, making you feel so sure that it wasn’t based strictly on the fact that you’d already had sex, bolstering your bravery and your confidence that he truly did feel the same way. Leaning back from the hug, but only enough to see his face, beaming at the fondness you saw before you, the time to ask him the question burning on your tongue finally came.

“So, you wanna maybe tell me now what it was that you couldn’t say to me online?”

“Yeah.”

He let you go to take the seat across from yours and you followed suit, though releasing him was a little difficult, feeling so happy when he reached across the table to cover your hand with his. His eyes looked bright, expression one of certainty rather than doubt and when he spoke it was with the utmost confidence, looking like he was letting out a secret he’d been wanting to share for a long time.

“Becoming friends with you meant a lot to me, even from the very beginning. You’re incredible, sweet and so damn funny all the time, and I love talking with you. From the start, I was really into you and I tried not to be once I found out you had a boyfriend because I didn’t wanna hurt you or wreck your relationship. I felt like a dick when things ended for you guys, really did wonder if it was my fault, and after things with your ex broke off I decided that I needed to get over it before I risked causing you any more pain. When I told you that I hoped you’d find someone, I did mean it. I really did. But, thinking of you finding someone else sucked too and I felt like I couldn’t do shit about it, because what girl is gonna wanna date a guy she met online playing Fortnite?”

“Plenty probably, but continue.”

Mark nodded his head, seeming to agree that you had a point, looking a little shy for a moment and so absolutely cute that all you wanted to do was lean over the table to kiss his beautiful mouth.

“I never thought I had a chance and I was never gonna say anything. Then, I met this amazing girl at a party and she tried to give me hope that maybe I was as wonderful as she’d said. Maybe the girl I was really crazy about might like me back. Turns out that I’m really lucky, cause she really does like me back, huh?”

“She does.”

It felt good to agreed and admit to it without the frantic feeling of that morning’s chat confession. After running the whole gamut of emotions one usually felt where unresolved affections were concerned, it felt peaceful to just be happy without any other feelings bogging your joy down. Things had ended up veering down a path you hadn’t anticipated, hooking up with a stranger who had turned out to be the guy you liked all along, but you were okay with it, glad that in the end you’d finally found that PR hadn’t needed to come around, not when he’d ultimately been waiting for you to do that. It was also a magnificent bonus that he so happened to be gorgeous as well as some of the best sex you’d ever had in your life.

“So, since it’s all out in the open that we like each other, what do you say? First date?”

“Yes, please. Just let me go get a cheeseburger, cause now that I’m not freaking out my appetite is back with a vengeance.”

Mark stood up before you could get out of your seat, leaning over towards you to cup your cheek and kiss you softly, the feeling so right. It was even better than it had felt when he’d kissed you last night, sweeter without the tangle of loneliness and unresolved emotions.

“Let me,” he mumbled, turning a kiss towards your cheek. “Treating my girl is a boyfriend privilege I’ve been waiting for. Plus, I’m pretty sure you’re not gonna be sad to check out my ass.”

“Guilty as charged.”

He flashed you a wink and walked off towards the counter with a clear pep in his step that advertised his happiness as obviously as a city billboard. It made you want to let out a ridiculous squeal, happy and then happier still to note that your boyfriend did have a cute, tiny little tush. As Mark ordered you the rest of your lunch, you closed Discord on your phone, no longer having a need for it, and opened up your list of text messages, finding the last exchanged you’d had with Madison, fingers tapping letters with a chipper bounciness.

 **YN:** Mads, I have some amazing shit to tell you later today. :)


End file.
